World’s No. 1 cobalt miner sees 2025 output approaching record

The world’s biggest cobalt miner, which churned out a record amount of the battery metal last year, is targeting similar levels of production for 2025 following a ramp-up at two African mines.

China’s CMOC Group Ltd. gave output guidance at 100,000 to 120,000 tons of cobalt, according to a statement posted on its WeChat account, after producing 114,165 tons in 2024.

Elevated levels of cobalt output from CMOC could further pressure prices of the material that’s used in everything from electric vehicle batteries to aerospace alloys. The company exceeded its 2024 full-year production guidance within the year’s first nine months, sending shock waves through the market and weighing on prices that are at the lowest since 2016.

The speedy ramp up at CMOC’s two mines, TFM and KFM, in the Democratic Republic of Congo helped it double cobalt output last year. The company said it’s carried out exploration work at TFM’s western area and KFM Phase II.

Cobalt is often extracted as a by-product from digging up copper, which CMOC is bullish about over the longer term. It’s targeting copper production this year at between 600,000 and 660,000 tons, compared with about 650,000 tons last year.

Still, it sounded the alarm in November over the shrinking role of cobalt in the electric-vehicle transition.

CMOC reported its preliminary net income for 2024 surged between 55% and 72% from the year before to 12.8 billion yuan ($1.76 billion) to 14.2 billion yuan, according to a stock exchange filing Wednesday. It cited an increase in output and sales, as well as higher copper prices, for the rise.

(By Annie Lee)

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